Best of
Tv

2017

Family Don't End with Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Has Changed Lives


Lynn S. Zubernis - 2017
    The three-time People’s Choice Award winner for Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show and Tumblr’s 2015 Most Reblogged “Live Action TV” show has made a name for itself by supporting and encouraging its fans to “always keep fighting,” a main theme echoed in the show, and demonstrating the inspiring truth to a memorable line from early in the show’s run: “Family don’t end with blood.”In twenty powerful chapters written by Supernatural’s actors and fans, including series lead Jared Padalecki, Family Don’t End with Blood: How Supernatural Has Changed Lives examines the far reach of the show’s impact over the last eleven years. Supernatural has encouraged fans to change their lives, from getting “sober for Sam” to escaping a cult to pursuing lifelong dreams. But fans aren’t the only ones who have been changed. The actors who bring the show to life have also found, in the show and its community, inspiration, courage, and the strength to keep going when life seemed too hard.In keeping with the show’s message to “always keep fighting,” and to support the important work of combatting stigma and encouraging those who are struggling to speak out, a portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to charity Attitudes in Reverse, whose mission is to educate young people about mental health and suicide prevention.Contributors from Supernatural’s cast include:Jared Padelecki (“Sam Winchester”)Jim Beaver (“Bobby Singer”)Ruth Connell (“Rowena MacLeod”)Osric Chau (“Kevin Tran”)Rob Benedict (“Chuck Shurley aka God”)Kim Rhodes (“Sheriff Jody Mills”)Briana Buckmaster (“Sheriff Donna Hanscum”)Matt Cohen (“Young John Winchester”)Gil McKinney (“Henry Winchester”)Rachel Miner (“Meg Masters”)Edited by Lynn S. Zubernis, a clinical psychologist, professor, and passionate Supernatural fangirl, Family Don’t End with Blood provides an insightful and often uplifting look into the way international fan communities become powerful, positive forces in the lives of so many.

Going Round the Bend


Danny Baker - 2017
    easily as funny, as self-deprecating and as wordly-wise as The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven ... it's like Tom and Jerry written by a Cockney Roddy Doyle on Prozac. But funnier' GQ Online on Going Off Alarming 'Rattles along at the same delightful and dizzying pace as its predecessor ... Baker loves a tale told at his own expense and they come thick and fast. He writes like he speaks, with hyperactive garrulity and a rhetorical flourish ... there is something about Baker in full flow that is affirming' Daily Telegraph on Going Off Alarming Danny Baker is a national treasure with a well-documented - thanks to the recent eight-part BBC TV adaptation - and colourful life. For over a quarter of a century he has amused and entertained audiences on both radio and television. Beginning his career at the age of 15 in a small record shop in the London's West End, Danny went on to become an acclaimed music journalist, and started his radio career on BBC GLR in 1989. With a unique take on life and a lot to say, Danny's latest book is full of his trademark warmth, wit and insight.

Breaking Bad 101: The Complete Critical Companion


Alan Sepinwall - 2017
    Created by Vince Gilligan, the series charts the transformation of high school science teacher Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) into a cold, calculating meth kingpin. Breaking Bad 101 collects esteemed critic Alan Sepinwall’s (Uproxx) popular Breaking Bad recaps in book form, featuring new, exclusive essays and completely revised and updated commentary—as well as insights from and interviews with the creative masterminds behind Breaking Bad. The ultimate critical companion for one of the greatest television dramas of all time, Breaking Bad 101 offers fans Sepinwall’s smart, funny, and incisive analysis of the psychology and filmmaking craft behind each episode and celebrates the series’ unique place in pop-culture history.

The Art of Rick and Morty


Justin Roiland - 2017
    Now, take a deep trans-dimensional dive into the creation of these many insane universes with The Art of Rick and Morty!This new book is a must-have, not only for followers of the series, but for fans of animation as well! Featuring intimate commentary from the show's creators accompanying a vast collection of process, concept, and production art, this striking volume offers a tantalizing exploration of one of the most outlandish and beloved shows on television. Don't miss your chance to see the amazing art that goes into creating this twisted and fantastic Adult Swim series!

The Vampire Diaries: Unlocking the Secrets of Mystic Falls


Michael Mallory - 2017
    Based on the popular book series, it’s been a thrill ride of suspense, romance, and drama which has captivated viewers for eight epic seasons. The Vampire Diaries: Unlocking the Secrets of Mystic Falls takes readers behind the scenes of the hit television phenomenon, offering insightful interviews with the cast and creative team and showcasing exclusive production art, fascinating trivia, and full-color photos from every season of the show. Comprehensive and filled with gorgeous imagery, this is the definitive insider’s guide to the world of The Vampire Diaries and the secrets of Mystic Falls. Copyright © 2017 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

The Science of Orphan Black: The Official Companion


Casey Griffin - 2017
    With exclusive insights from the show’s co-creator Graeme Manson and science consultant Cosima Herter, The Science of Orphan Black takes you behind the closed doors of the Dyad Institute and inside Neolution. Authors Casey Griffin and Nina Nesseth decode the mysteries of Orphan Black — from the history of cloning, epigenetics, synthetic biology, chimerism, the real diseases on which the clone disease is based, and the transhumanist philosophies of Neolution, to what exactly happens when a projectile pencil is shot through a person’s eye and into their brain.

My Little Pony: Movie Adaptation


Meghan Mccarthy - 2017
    Equestria!And when the worst comes to pass it'll take Twilight and her friends–with new faces like Captain Celaeno, Capper, Princess Skystar, Songbird Serenade, and more! Plus a whole lot of friendship to bring an end to this storm.Adapting the full-length My Little Pony: The Movie, this graphic novel retelling puts the big screen fun and adventure in your pocket!

Scarred For Life: Volume One: The 1970s


Stephen Brotherstone - 2017
    Public information films, scary kids' TV show, bleak adult dramas, dystopian sci-fi, savage horror films, violent comics, horror-themed toys and sweets and the huge boom in paranormal paraphernalia; all this and much more is covered in depth. Prepare to relive your childhood nightmares. The things that made us... Scarred For Life!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Pizza Cookbook


Peggy Paul Casella - 2017
    This charming book offers countless innovative and mouth-watering pizza recipes to inspire TMNT fans in the kitchen. An eclectic collection of delectable recipes, The Official Pizza Cookbook includes special vegetarian, meat-lover, New York City–style, Californian, Italian, and high-end gourmet selections, as well as pairing tips that are bound to impress dinner guests. This gnarly cookbook is the perfect gift for anyone seeking to take a TMNT-themed party to the next level. © 2016 Viacom International Inc. and Viacom Overseas Holdings C.V.  All rights reserved.  Nickelodeon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and all related titles, logos, and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. and Viacom Overseas Holdings C.V. Based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Encyclopedia: The Ultimate Guide to the Buffyverse


Nancy Holder - 2017
    Now, fans can discover Buffy’s world fully with this full-color A-to-Z encyclopedia that catalogs, explains, and cross-reference every detail of the Buffyverse, from characters, locations, and weapons to episodes, demons, and recurring gags.Packed with content from the television show, The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Encyclopedia is the first companion book that also includes key facts from the official canon comics and its spin-off show Angel—making this comprehensive volume the only truly complete guide to the entire Buffyverse.Lavishly produced and written by Buffy experts, The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Encyclopedia is the authoritative source for fans, allowing them to indulge in the intricacies and nuances of the series as never before. With color stills and photography throughout, an eerie cover with special effects, and an incredible design that reflects the show’s aesthetics, this fully authorized companion is a must-have for all Buffy enthusiasts.Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM & © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

Only Connect: The Official Quiz Book


Jack Waley-Cohen - 2017
    Since 2008 the fiendishly difficult quiz show has been challenging contestants to find connections between apparently unrelated clues.The Only Connect Quiz Book collects over 200 of the most entertaining and perplexing challenges from the team behind the BBC’s hugely popular quiz show - including many new (never broadcast) questions. Covering each of the show’s four rounds – Connections, Sequences, the Connecting Wall and Missing Vowels – and with introductions from presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, here is your chance to put your own sleuthing and quizzical knowledge to the Only Connect test.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: One Girl in All the World (Season 11, #12)


Christos Gage - 2017
    . . And the world will never be the same!

5-Minute Super Hero Stories (LEGO DC Super Heroes)


Scholastic Inc. - 2017
    Whether they're fighting crime at a carnival or rescuing their friends from supervillains in outer space, there's never a dull moment with these super heroes!

Are You in the House Alone?: A TV Movie Compendium 1964-1999


Amanda Reyes - 2017
    Made specifically for the small screen, within the tight constraints of broadcasting standards, what these humble movies lacked in budget and star appeal, they made up for in other ways. Often they served as an introduction to genre films, particularly horror, mirroring their theatrical counterparts with a focus on sinister cults, women in prison, haunted houses and even animals in revolt. They were also a place to address serious contemporary issues - drugs, prostitution, sexual violence and justice -albeit in a cosy domestic environment. Production of telefilms continues to this day, but their significance within the history of mass media remains under-discussed. Are You in the House Alone? seeks to address this imbalance in a series of reviews and essays by fans and critics. It looks at many of the films, the networks and names behind them, and also specific genres - everything from Stephen King adaptations to superheroes to true-life dramas. So, kickback and crack open the TV guide once more for the event that is the Movie of the Week!

My Life to Live: How I Became the Queen of Soaps When Men Ruled the Airwaves


Agnes Nixon - 2017
    Those tales she imagined--ones filled with ambitions, rivalries, and romances--would soon parallel her own path to success. In a memoir filled with as much drama as the soaps she penned, Nixon shares her journey from Nashville to New York City, as she overcomes the loss of her fiance in World War II, a father intent on crushing her writing dreams, and the jealousy of her male colleagues on her way to becoming one of the most successful names in television.While fans will delight in Nixon's own incredible life, they will also love her behind-the-scenes insight into her most popular shows. Inside, she shares the inspiration for Erica Kane and how she cast Susan Lucci in the role; an excerpt from the never-before-seen All My Children story bible; entertaining anecdotes about her shows' beloved casts and special guests, including Carol Burnett, Kelly Ripa, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffett; and more.But My Life to Live is also a portrait of a pioneer. Driven to use her ratings power for good, Nixon fought and broke network taboos by wrestling with controversial social issues ranging from women's health, interracial relationships, and the Vietnam War to drug addiction, LGBT rights, and AIDS. By infusing her characters with sensitivity, humor, and humanity, she enabled millions to examine an opposite point of view. And long before Shonda Rhimes launched a golden age of female showrunners, Agnes Nixon positioned ABC to become the media giant it is today.She is a true television legend, and her candid and inspiring glimpse behind the curtain of the television industry will charm soap fans and story lovers alike.

Rise and Fall of the 80s Toon Empire: A Behind the Scenes Look at When He-Man, G.I. Joe and Transformers Ruled The Airwaves (Rise and Fall of the Syndicated Toon Empire Book 1)


Jason Waguespack - 2017
    She-Ra. The Transformers. G.I.Joe. Thundercats. Voltron. Robotech. Rainbow Brite. Care Bears. My Little Pony. Jem. Inspector Gadget. All names that changed American pop culture. Now you'll learn the incredible story behind their arrival on American television.Rise and Fall of the 80s Toon Empire is a bird's eye view of a time in television history. It not only reveals the creative inspiration behind so many '80s cartoons, but it looks at the overall TV industry - showing how new cartoons were sold to TV stations (hint, the stations didn't pay a penny for many of them), how cartoons helped innovate the selling of home video cassettes, the ratings wars for the attention of young audiences, the fight by He-Man, Optimus Prime and G.I. Joe to conquer the big screen, and in the end, why the toon boom crashed.

Undisputed Street Fighter: A 30th Anniversary Retrospective


Steve Hendershot - 2017
    From first-of-their-kind advances such as selectable characters and secret combo moves, to imagination-capturing characters such as Ryu, Chun-Li, and Akuma, Street Fighter has stayed a step ahead of the competition en route to becoming one of the most enduring and influential franchises in video game history. Undisputed Street Fighter(TM) features in-depth interviews and exclusive, behind-the-scenes looks into the making of the Street Fighter games, and the iconic art, design, and imagery from across the Street Fighter universe

Doctor Who: Classic TV Adventures Collection One


Kit Pedler - 2017
    The stories are: The Tomb of the Cybermen (narrated by Frazer Hines); Doctor Who and the Silurians (narrated by Caroline John); The Sea Devils (narrated by Katy Manning); The Curse of Peladon (narrated by Katy Manning); The Monster of Peladon (narrated by Elisabeth Sladen); The Pirate Planet (narrated by John Leeson); and Destiny of the Daleks (narrated by Lalla Ward). Also includes bonus interviews with the narrators in which they each recall their time as the Doctor's companion in the BBC TV series. Duration: 14 hours approx.

Opening the X-Files: A Critical History of the Original Series


Darren Mooney - 2017
    Over nine seasons and two feature films, agents Mulder and Scully pursued monsters, aliens, mutants and shadowy conspirators across the American landscape. Running for more than 200 episodes, the series transformed television, crafting a postmodern mythology that spoke to the anxieties and uncertainties of the end of the 20th century. Covering the entire series from its debut through the second feature film, this book examines how creator Chris Carter and his team of writers turned a scrappy cult favorite on Fox into a global phenomenon.

SpongeBob Comics: Book 3: Tales from the Haunted Pineapple


Stephen Hillenburg - 2017
    Tales from the Haunted Pineapple includes more than 15 short, self-contained stories by some of the biggest comics creators in the industry. These original stories feature all the fan favorites—from Patrick and Squidward to Sandy and Mr. Krabs—in original adventures you won’t see on television. Best of all, this book includes stories with spooky themes just in time for Halloween.

Star Trek Beyond - The Makeup Artistry of Joel Harlow


Titan Books - 2017
    At the heart of the process of bringing these breathtaking intergalactic species to life was Academy Award-winning make-up artist Joel Harlow. Together with his team of amazingly talented creatives, Harlow set to work on creating aliens from over 50 different races for the film and documented the entire creative process for each one in exhaustive detail, from preliminary sketches to final make-up application.Star Trek Beyond – The Makeup Artistry of Joel Harlow presents the extraordinary work done by Harlow and his crew. Featuring fascinating pencil sketches, stunning concept art and beautiful photography, this visually arresting book gives fans a unique in-depth look into the remarkable work that went into this immensely popular movie.

Keep Beach City Weird: You Can't Hide the Truth!!!


Ben Levin - 2017
    But Ronaldo Fryman, the town's resident blogger and conspiracy theorist, has some other ideas. This book, created by show writers Ben Levin and Matt Burnett, is a companion to Ronaldo's blog of the same name, and includes his favorite theories and collected evidence. Is Ronaldo a raving, delusional madman or a brilliant, misunderstood visionary (or a little bit of both)? You be the judge!

Elena of Avalor: My Best Friend's Birthday (Disney Storybook (eBook))


Walt Disney Company - 2017
    When Elena finds out that her best friend Naomi's 15th birthday is coming up, she decides to throw her a Royal Quinceañera at the palace! But when Naomi becomes obsessed with having the perfect party, their friendship is put to the test.

Golden: Empowering Rituals to Conjure Your Inner Priestess


Asa Soltan - 2017
    She finally gives her loyal legion of fans the book they’ve been begging for, providing them with the tools to find confidence, empowerment, and channel their inner priestess.Asa was eight years old when her family fled their war-torn country of Iran to seek refuge in Germany. To say she experienced culture shock after arriving is an understatement. She had never seen anyone that looked and acted so different from her, and she didn’t speak a word of German or English. She felt completely cast off from her land, her culture, and her people. Feeling a need to connect to her culture and herself, she created rituals that she practiced every day. At first they were a simple way to create a sacred space for herself so she could go within and remember who she really was. But when she became a refugee for the second time moving from Germany to Los Angeles, those rituals kept her deeply connected to her Inner Priestess—the authentic version of herself that existed without ego, baggage, or attachments to material things. In Golden Asa shares how you can connect to your Inner Priestess with seven rituals she’s developed throughout her life—rituals that will help you clean out your body, your environment, and your emotional life so you can live without negativity and fear. Within each chapter are fun, lighthearted tips based on Asa’s own personal journey to find peace and acceptance, as well as stories and photos from her childhood to illustrate the impact these rituals can have. Whether you choose to focus on one ritual separately or all of them at once, Golden can guide you to a state of glamorous, gorgeous mindfulness and a chance to live the life of your dreams.

Hot Pants in Hollywood: Sex, Secrets & Sitcoms


Susan Silver - 2017
    Along the way, she wrote the "Search for Mr. Adequate" her well received dating column, and had many romantic adventures, loves and loss and she's "still here." Though her story is unique, her life is relatable to all women, Baby Boomers dealing with divorce, elderly parents, or young women of today still fighting their way to be accepted in a man's world.

The Essential Fan Guide to Rupaul's Drag Race


John Davis - 2017
    Most recently, RuPaul has again become an unlikely pop-cultural icon by producing and starring in RuPaul's Drag Race - a reality television series that judges the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent of the competing drag queens. Over nine seasons and numerous spin-off series (including All Stars and RuPaul's Drag U), RuPaul's Drag Race has become a cult global hit - fans know the catchphrases, the personalities, the cat fights.The Essential Fan Guide to RuPaul's Drag Race celebrates all the queens (all 100+) that have graced the stage, as well as memorable Drag terms, inspiring quotes from RuPaul and so many facts and figures that even a hardcore RuPaul fan will learn a thing or two. This is one for the true fans.